There is a need in industry for new transition metal compounds useful as polymerization catalysts.
Bridged monocyclopentadienyl transition metal compounds have been disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,055,438 and 7,163,907 (and other patents by the instant inventor J. M. Canich), that when activated with methyl alumoxane or a non-coordinating anion produce polyolefins.
U.S. 2006/0160968 discloses a process to make substituted metallocenes where the ligand has been halogenated prior to reactions with the metal complex.
U.S. 2007/0135594 discloses halogenated mono-cyclopentadienyl-amido transition metal compounds.
U.S. 2007/0135597 discloses bridged bis cyclopentadienyl transition metal compounds where on ligand is an indene and the other ligand is a cyclopentadiene, indene or fluorene and the bridge is located at the 4, 5, 6, or 7 position of the indene or the 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6 position of the fluorene.
U.S. 2006-0160967 disclose bridged indenyl compounds where the bridged is at the 4, 5, 6, or 7 position of the indene and at least one of the two ligands is substituted with a halogen.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,074,863 and WO 2003/000744 disclose bridged and unbridged bis indenyl compounds substituted at the 4, 5, 6, or 7 positions by a siloxy or germyloxy group. Also disclosed is one mono-indenyl amido titanium complex where the indenyl ligand is bridged to the amido ligand via an O—SiMe2 bridge.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,420,301 discloses bridged monocyclopentadienyl compounds where the bridging group —ZAA1- is bonded to the “cyclopentadienyl” ligand by both Z and A1 forming a multicyclic structure. The compounds exemplified are mono-fluorenyl species that are bridged via the 1 and 9 position of the fluorenyl ligand.
JP 3497920(B2) discloses bridged mono-indenyl transition metal compounds, where the indenyl ligand is connected to the metal via an ortho phenyl heteroatom linkage where the heteroatom appears to be —O—, —S—, —NR— or —PR—.
JP 2009-119681A and JP 2009-019035A discloses bridged monocyclopentadienyl compounds were the bridging group R2Si(PhR4) links the indenyl ligand to an oxygen atom bound to the metal.
Thus there is a need in the art for new transition metal compounds that can be used as pre-catalysts to produce very high to ultra high molecular weight polymers with narrow or broad polydispersities. Also needed is a general synthetic pathway to make bridged mono-indenyl amido group 4 transition metal complexes where the bridge is to the 6-membered ring of the indenyl ligand, and where the synthetic pathway is applicable to many substituted indenyls, substituted amides, and types of bridging groups.